…and this is a 
Judgment Day liveblogging
Category: Creationism • Entertainment
Posted on: November 13, 2007 7:26 PM, by PZ Myers
The new PBS documentary on the Dover trial, Judgment Day (optimistically reviewed by NCSE! The Discovery Institute in frantic denial!) starts here in the midwest in about a half hour. I've got my diet coke, I think I'll pop some popcorn, and maybe I'll take a stab at liveblogging the show. Let's hope it's lively!
Feel free to chime in with comments as we go.
7:10: The premise is clear: the creationists are trying to claim it's about science, while the scientists like Scott and Miller and Padian are pointing out that it's about religion. This is the "civil war" that's going to tear up the community.
WIliam Bonsell claims this affair was all about giving something to the community — but he makes no bones about being a creationist and claims the world is only a few thousand years old.
7:20: Bill Buckingham (a retired policeman) gets asked to review the school's textbooks by the school board … and finds the books "laced with Darwinism." This triggers a summary of Darwin's theory, using finches as an example, showing that species aren't fixed.
Cool. Neil Shubin gets some air time.
Back to Buckngham, who finds evolution "personally offensive." Tough cookies, Bill.
7:30: One of the incidents that started the conflict was that a mural portraying evolution was burned…Buckingham admits to have seen it burned. Buckingham also admits that he is looking for textbooks that combine evolution and creationism.
Lauri Lebo! She's a reporter in Dover who was writing up the case and was also wrestling with personal concerns about creationism.
The Thomas More Law Center (which takes credit for introducing Buckingham to ID) and the Discovery Institute, via Of Pandas and People, get into the act.
Bleh. Steve Fuller explains the premise of ID with words written on a beach — life is too complex to have arisen by chance, it needed a designer. Buckingham thinks it's god, Of Pandas and People refers to an "intelligent agent".
Squirrely old Phillip E. Johnson claims there is no evidence for evolution, and says that an intelligent cause was required. Lebo says that the school board saw this as an intermediate position that would allow them to get the concept into the schools— but the teachers saw through it all and any purchase of "Pandas" was shelved.
Surprise! 60 copies show up anyway, the board passes a requirement that a disclaimer/ID-friendly statement be read. People resign over the mess.
7:45: Parents (including Kitzmiller) respond by filing suit. Hooray for concerned parents! Science teachers refuse to read the statement. Hooray for teachers!
We get a reenactment of the administrator reading the statement. Boy, those guys sound goofy.
A digression into the national support for ID: Santorum and Bush, and the many magazine articles on the topic. We meet Judge John Jones, who'd been appointed on the recommendation of Santorum by Bush.
The TMLC lawyer claims that all they had to do was show that ID was a credible scientific theory — the bar was set low. Ha ha, they failed.
Nick Matzke and the NCSE gets credit; the scientific team is introduced and we get a reenactment of Miller's testimony. Judge Jones gets schooled on the basics of evolutionary theory.
'ID teaches a history of life in which organism appear abruptly linked only by their common designer.' This is rebutted by the discovery of transitional fossils — so Neil Shubin (this is why he's in the show!) describes Tiktaalik, which was discovered in a timely way when the trial was in progress. Cool! Science! Show more of this!
7:50: This is the highlight of the show so far — nice discussion of why Tiktaalik is such a good example of a transitional fossil. Kevin Padian gives a summary; I really have to say that Padian's explanation was amazingly good.
Ugh. After that good stuff, we get morons Bonsell and Buckingham saying that "evolution is just a theory". Padian (in a reenactment) explains why that is wrong.
Hey, PBS really ought to pull out this 15 minute chunk and expand it into a full NOVA program.
8:00: OK, a little explanation of genetics. I object to the claim that it was founded on an understanding of DNA — pure genetics and genetics as originally understood as nothing to do with DNA. Otherwise, though, it's a decent short summary of how novelties arise as mutations in a population.
Miller's explanation of how the relationship between humans and other apes is revealed by the fusion apparent in human chromosome 2 (the story that Casey Luskin so foolishly mangled) is shown. More good stuff. I'm liking the parts in this documentary that explain the evolutionary story best. It's making a good case for the power of evolutionary biology.
What about Intelligent Design? Does it play by the same rules, is it productive? Miller says no, so does Eugenie Scott. Now we're just waiting for the defense to provide support for the claim that they have a scientific theory.
8:10: Tammy Kitzmiller gets hate mail, the teachers are called atheists. Buckingham can't understand how teachers can be Christians and teach evolution — poor Bill Buckingham, he's coming off as a contemptible cretin. He resigns, and a school board election is coming up. The bad guys have a sign that bills them as the "intelligent choice". The Rehms (two teachers in the school) are examples of the problem: they run a sunday school, and are being accused of atheism.
The initial slate of defense witnesses changes fast: 5 of the 8 (including Dembski) bails out. They're left with Fuller, Minnich, and Behe...and everything is resting on Behe's testimony (we know what's going to happen there.) We get a reenactment, since Behe refused to cooperate with the documentary.
Behe's testimony is pretty flat after those strong examples of real science from Miller and Padian. The show has some nice animations of the bacterial flagellum and a discussion of its "irreducible complexity"… but is Steve Fuller, that clown, really the best defender of the ID the show could find?
8:20: Cool. Behe goes on about a paper by DeRosier that he says shows that the flagellum could not have evolved…and then the documentary brings on DeRosier, who says the structure shows all the signs of being a product of natural evolution. DeRosier discusses the homology between the flagellum and secretory structures. It looks like the show isn't going to just present the IDists case — it's going to refute them as it goes along! Oooh, that's going to make the DI mad.
We get a discussion of the mousetrap analogy; I suppose it's nice for people who are unfamiliar with it, but I've been hearing this stuff for about 15 years now.
Oooh, oooh: a recreation of Behe's claim that there is no evidence for the evolution of the immune system, followed by the lawyers piling up the papers and books showing exactly what Behe claimed was not there.
The final day of testimony: Minnich brings out the flagellum again. He recites Behe's claim that evolution of the flagellum could be recreated in the lab, and therefore ID is testable. The defense points out that neither Behe nor Minnich have even tried to do the experiment.
8:30: We get a personal note: Lauri Lebo's struggle with her fundamentalist father. Ugh. Ray Mummert claims evolution is a slap in his face. Miller argues that religion and evolution are fully compatible (no, they aren't).
So now we get a summary of the evidence that the school board's actions were motivated by religion, in violation of the separation clause. The NCSE investigates Of Pandas and People. The link is made to Charles Thaxton in a 1981 article that discusses the planned book; they subpoena early drafts to see if there is a smoking gun of creationism.
Yay, Barbara Forrest, the real hero of the trial. She took apart the drafts, and found in the 1987 draft, that it was clearly discussing creationism. The next draft, after the Edwards court decision that slapped down creationism, simply changed the word "creation" into "design". "Creationists" got changed to "cdesign proponentsists" — a transitional fossil in the texts. Forrest also uses Paul Nelson's words to show that the IDists themselves knew that what they were doing was not science.
Oh, boy, another reenactment of Behe's shining moment in which he admitted astrology would fit under his definition of science.
8:40: What? Steve Fuller claims that the genetic factors behind heredity, before the discovery of genes and DNA, were regarded as "supernatural"? Fuller is such an ignorant whackjob.
The Wedge Document is discussed. Johnson claims it is all quite innocent — he just wants to use his legal expertise as the thin edge of the wedge. Sure. Read it. He's either delusional or lying.
Chapman summarizes: all this evidence is presented, and it's clear that the whole intent of the DI gang is to simply deny.
Another great moment: Buckingham on local TV admitting that he thought Darwinism had to be balanced with "creationism". It's an outright admission that their motives were to introduce a religious idea into the school. He's also found to have lied about the source of the Pandas book donation — he knew, he'd gotten the money from church donations, and the businessman who'd bought the books was Bonsell's father. Both Buckingham and Bonsell are exposed as liars.
8:50: Bonsell and Buckingham try to defend themselves, but good grief, their credibility is nonexistent by this point.
Excerpts from the closing arguments; the school board election dumps the creationists; Alan Bonsell gets repudiated; Pat Robertson condemns Dover; all while Judge Jones labors to put together his decision.
People get the 139 page opinion by email -- much rejoicing ensues. ID is not science, it is unconstitutional to teach ID, the proponents on the school board lied. Judge Jones himself reads part of it. Boom. Its a solid knockout.
Bill Buckingham calls Jones "disgustng" and an "ass". Bonsell still claims he was trying to do best for the community. The TMLC is unhappy. The Discovery Institute distances itself from the case. Jones gets death threats.
9:00: Oh, go ahead and end on a sour note. Everyone agrees that the struggle will continue for a long, long time.
It was a very good program, and I can see why the DI is going to be unhappy about it. It presents the scientific case for evolution, and every mention of the design case is quickly countered in the documentary with a strong rebuttal and discussion of the science. It's one solid smackdown of the creationists.
Still…the strengths were in the nice presentations of the science. There are pieces of ths show I'd like to extract and show in my intro class in the future — but it's too long for a lecture supplement, and all the creationist crap, while socioculturally relevant, are distractions from the science.
I think they ought to make a new show with just Kevin Padian and Barbara Forrest discussing the science and philosophy of evolution. That would be perfect.
Politics
Comments
I've got my timer set, too, so I won't miss it. 25 minutes and counting.
Posted by: Jewel | November 13, 2007 7:35 PM
Man, I was going to do that...
OK, You do it. Whatever.
Posted by: Greg Laden | November 13, 2007 7:38 PM
Quick...let me get the 5 y.o. in and out of the bath...
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | November 13, 2007 7:46 PM
Anyone gonna tivo it and put it online for those of us who don't get PBS?
Posted by: Jake | November 13, 2007 7:48 PM
Which is to say, I'd surely appreciate it and send virtual smooches to anyone who did. :-)
Posted by: Jake | November 13, 2007 7:50 PM
Ill be watchin' too buddy. Ill be interested to see what you'll have to say...
Posted by: The Stone | November 13, 2007 7:51 PM
Did anyone catch Judge Jones being interviewed on Jim Lehrer? I only caught the last 30 seconds. That's what I get for tuning in to Nova only an hour early...
Posted by: Marc Connor | November 13, 2007 7:56 PM
No fair! I'm not even home from work yet! Stupid time zones! I have to wait until 8 PM PST, so it's still another 3 hours until I get to experience the joy of my favorite show Nova (well, second favorite show after Hockey Night In Canada) lay the boots to the amoral, unscientific
theoryhypothesisideacreationist rip-off that the Discovery Institute calls "Intelligent" Design!Posted by: sinned34 | November 13, 2007 7:57 PM
Jake: Who does not get PBS? What, do yoiu live in Canada or something?
Posted by: greg laden | November 13, 2007 8:00 PM
Oh man, 3 hours to go on the west coast! I'll be watching/taping it (I'm ancient and don't have TiVo hooked up to DirecTV). And I am techie enough to go from super VHS to DVD recorder.
For Jake's sake, the PBS site will air it online on Nov 16 (plus they will have it out on DVD).
waiting.....waiting.....waiting....(with same intonation as in Pink Floyd's "The Wall"). Stupid DirecTV doesn't offer an East coast feed for PBS - have to wait for local PBS affiliate (OPB)to broadcast on DirecTV.
Posted by: foxfire | November 13, 2007 8:01 PM
I found a related video on Richard Dawkins' website.
http://richarddawkins.net/article,1777,Eugenie-Scott-on-Intelligent-Design-and-Young-Earth-Creationism,Eugenie-Scott-AAI-07
It's of Eugenie Scott talking about the trial and how creationism has morphed into intelligent design over the past two decades. There is a very funny moment when she exposes the fact that the creationists are actually still using the same textbooks. She explains how they just swapped the words creationism with intelligent design.
And #4 Jake asked about those that might miss the show. PBS says it will be available online Nov. 16th.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/programs/
Posted by: Dirk Diggler | November 13, 2007 8:03 PM
New favorite quote: "Intelligent Design: It Makes People Stupid." - guy on 'Judgment Day'
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:03 PM
*crying with laughter at the DI link*
complaining about quoting other works verbatim? Leaked documents proving political aims?
Oh, DI, if your pot was any blacker it would have an accretion disc around it.
Posted by: Drhoz! | November 13, 2007 8:03 PM
Gotta say, as an artist, I couldn't be prouder that the whole thing started with a mural. Go arts!
Posted by: Dahan | November 13, 2007 8:04 PM
Only 3 minutes in and I'm already immensely pissed off at the creationists.
So, just another day I guess.
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 8:06 PM
Dr. Kevin Padian, I think he was. (UC Berkeley)
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:08 PM
PBS will have it for about $25.00, probably -- they can use the cash. You'll get a high quality DVD.
The News Hour led in with an interview with Judge John E. Jones. Guys like him were what made me hopeful for the Republican Party back in the good old days. The Roosevelts, Muirs, Scrantons, Dirksens and Rockefellers are long gone from the GOP -- Jones is just a vestige . . .
Posted by: Ed Darrell | November 13, 2007 8:09 PM
Marc Connor, (see post #7 above) THANK YOU!!!
West Coasties, tune in for The Judge on Jim Lehrer - On OPB (Oregon) Lehrer is on right befor Nova!
Thanks Marc!
Posted by: foxfire | November 13, 2007 8:11 PM
foxfire - you west coasties can pay us back by you-tube-izing it for us ;)
Posted by: Marc Connor | November 13, 2007 8:12 PM
This show is pre-empted in Memphis as far as I can tell. There's a local interest WWII show on. They could at least put it on at 2 in the morning or something. Geez.
Posted by: Boris | November 13, 2007 8:13 PM
Anybody else planing on checking under their bed for Behe tonight before drifting off to sleep clutching their copy of "From So Simple a Beginning"? (hey, it's 4 books in one.)
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 8:18 PM
Greg Laden writes:
Not only do we get PBS in Canada, but for the northern states, Canadians are a significant proportion of the cross-border PBS station supporters.Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 8:19 PM
Art burning Nazis! That pisses me off.
Posted by: The Stone | November 13, 2007 8:20 PM
Well, Bill Buckingham and Alan Bonsall are not doing the cause of ID any favors :)
Posted by: tacitus | November 13, 2007 8:20 PM
As small a thing as it is, given the issue at large, the thing that's really irritating me the most right now is the insistence of the creationists on conflating apes and monkeys.
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 8:23 PM
So cute.
The ID "scientists" are pretending to do experiments.
Posted by: spurge | November 13, 2007 8:26 PM
"From ape to man" just doesn't have the same ring--when their ploy is entirely rhetorical, what do you expect?
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:26 PM
Jake writes:
PBS typically broadcasts their shows on-line after they have aired. On the program's webpage, there is a link to watch it on-line, but it is not active yet.Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 8:26 PM
A grad student with a tie? Gotta be a "prop".
Posted by: The Stone | November 13, 2007 8:28 PM
Philip E Johnson is a LAWYER - I think I'm going to go and write a law book.
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | November 13, 2007 8:28 PM
J Myers, you're right or course; and I do expect it. I should be used to to it. But it still really irks me.
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 8:29 PM
The bible apparently says if you dont get what you want by the law, its ok to subvert the law to implement your personal view of reality.
Posted by: The Stone | November 13, 2007 8:31 PM
I wonder how the fundies would have reacted if the 60 copies of Of Pandas and People had been burned in the same way that the Ascent of Man mural had been burned?
Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 8:32 PM
The asst. superintendent in the re-enactment looks like Dembski!
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:34 PM
I'm liking this show so far.. aaaak!
Santorum! eeeek!
Posted by: Landslug | November 13, 2007 8:40 PM
When will the IDers realize that intelligent design is NOT a scientific theory?!? The logic is so very flawed.
*head explodes*
And, is it just me or do I detect the slightest hint of sarcasm in the narrator's voice when he's talking about the IDers taking themselves seriously?
Posted by: Amanda | November 13, 2007 8:41 PM
Jake wrote
I've been told it'll be available on the Web the 16th.Posted by: RBH | November 13, 2007 8:43 PM
"... as evolutionary theory predicts...." Nice!
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:44 PM
I loved the techno-music set with the paleontologists in a chopper over the arctic. It sorta makes that billion-year evolutionary distance progress in a more action packed manner.
Posted by: The Stone | November 13, 2007 8:44 PM
Oh, right, then the Evilutionists "suddenly" "discover" a "transitional" "fossil" ... in one of the most desolate places on the planet ... Canada ... right when the trial is going on. Obviously, working hand in hand with the devil on that one.
Posted by: greg laden | November 13, 2007 8:44 PM
Oh, crap, it wasn't true.... the transitional fossils that were discovered during the trial were not introduced as evidence. it just should have been true and the producers therefore pretended it was true, totally wasting our time for 4.5 minutes. Bad form, PBS. Bad PBS.
Posted by: greg laden | November 13, 2007 8:49 PM
Have they got to the bit were PZ and a group of scientists burst into the courtroom weilding guns and machetes and whip so ID butt?
Posted by: Brian English | November 13, 2007 8:49 PM
And do paleoarchaeologists typically jackhammer their way to these discoveries?
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:52 PM
How could anyone not be thrilled at the prospect of being a descendant of an ape? I mean, its no octopus or cuttlefish, but hey, its pretty cool for a land animal.
Posted by: The Stone | November 13, 2007 8:55 PM
In fact yes, paleoarchaeologists love them some jackhammer. Ok, sometimes they're miniature jackhammers, but good old pneumatic precision calibration devices nonetheless.
Posted by: dcwp | November 13, 2007 8:57 PM
Ooo... though I doubt the discoverers of the example in question were paleoarchaeologists... my bad. (My question regarding methods was genuine).
Posted by: J Myers | November 13, 2007 8:58 PM
Oh, Ken Miller, no, it is simply not true that God hates the Yankees.
Posted by: greg laden | November 13, 2007 8:59 PM
The fusion to create chromosome 2 is simply a beautiful and easy-to-understand example of our common ancestry with the great apes.
I agree with PZ - let's pull out all of the science stuff and create another show.
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | November 13, 2007 9:00 PM
When "loving" Christians attack.
Posted by: spurge | November 13, 2007 9:02 PM
No you're right, they were probably paleozoologists or some other flavor of paleontologist.
In my line of prehistoric investigation (very recent) we seldom get to use such cool tools, but my paleontologist friends love to brag about they're big hammers. From regular old jackhammers down to tiny little microscribes.
Posted by: dcwp | November 13, 2007 9:02 PM
Ugh!
Every time I hear one of these creationists talk, I want to yell at the TV. Criminy.
Posted by: Spook | November 13, 2007 9:04 PM
This program is so one-sided. They didn't cover the hate mail that the evolutionists sent to the IDers. Oh wait. There wasn't any.
Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 9:04 PM
Maybe after they get done making the point that one need not be an athiest to believe in evolution they'll delve into the fact that being an athiest doesn't necessarily deserve the minor-key music?
Posted by: dcwp | November 13, 2007 9:05 PM
I just vomited on my keyboard when they showed the church musical bit.
Posted by: Entgegen | November 13, 2007 9:05 PM
The scary music over the faces of the ID expert's pictures was a nice touch
Posted by: Landslug | November 13, 2007 9:06 PM
#7, #18: Judge John Jones was interviewed for about five minutes at the close of the PBS Newshour today, preceded by a few minutes excerpted from the Nova show. Newshour shows are available at that link via streaming video and transcripts within a day or so.
Jones made the point that the judicial process was methodical as always, and free from considerations of popular majority preferences (here trumped by the Establishment clause)- and also uninfluenced by the death threats he received.
Posted by: thwaite | November 13, 2007 9:09 PM
Behe should have been portrayed by Ben Stein. ... Anyone? Anyone? ... The flagellum tail.
Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 9:10 PM
Behe would not be interviewed for the program?? Perhaps he thought the actor playing his part in the trial dramatization would do a good enough job.
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | November 13, 2007 9:10 PM
Behe quote mined right at the trial.
He has no shame.
Posted by: spurge | November 13, 2007 9:12 PM
The animation of the flagella is among the best I've seen - this clip is definitely worth showing in class.
Posted by: Ms. S | November 13, 2007 9:13 PM
I so totally need to start wearing a mouse trap tie clip.
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 9:16 PM
The show is also being liveblogged at The Atheist Experience.
Posted by: Martin | November 13, 2007 9:18 PM
Behe getting buried by books.. I love it!
they're heavy ha haa
Posted by: Landslug | November 13, 2007 9:18 PM
Hey, PZ, that's one heck of a long link.
Posted by: noncarborundum | November 13, 2007 9:22 PM
PZ's post has become irreducibly complex.
Posted by: greg laden | November 13, 2007 9:22 PM
How dare those science teachers counter-indoctrinate our children!
Posted by: Entgegen | November 13, 2007 9:23 PM
Oh folks...ya gotta check out the DI link P-Zed posted:
http://www.evolutionnews.org/
Scroll down the page - Behe in Duck Tape! ROTFLMAA!
As if anything could shut that loser up......
Can anybody here draw? I can visualize an Abbie (yup, ERV Abbie) a Red Sonya of Science (not to be confused with Red Sonja of adolescent male dreams) facing the DI dark, oily, cloud of misinformation with Behe as its aging, slinking Grand Vizier.....she would carry the symbol of the cephalopod on her shoulder and on the gleaming sword of reason and knowledge as she faces her opponents, seeing the fear in their eyes.
Oh sorry....just got carried away ;-)
Posted by: foxfire | November 13, 2007 9:24 PM
Hey, did anybody catch the NCSE product placement? I saw a copy of Reports sitting out on a desk...
Posted by: greg laden | November 13, 2007 9:28 PM
I'm on the road, so I'm recording this on my DVR so I can watch it with my kids when I get home. Please don't spoil the ending! ;)
BTW, the DI page the PZ linked it hil-frikin-larious. You'd think they were denied their First Amendment rights or something.
Posted by: rich (richmanwisco) | November 13, 2007 9:30 PM
cdesign proponentsists
Wow - I love watching the evolution of creationism into ID :)
Posted by: Ms S | November 13, 2007 9:30 PM
The missing link between creationism and Intelligent Design. That is absolutely fantastic!
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 9:30 PM
hilarious.
Posted by: tai haku | November 13, 2007 9:32 PM
cdesign proponentist n. a transitional evolutionary form between creationist and IDist
Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 9:33 PM
cdesign proponentsists
Someone please put that on a t-shirt. I'll buy the first one.
Posted by: aaron | November 13, 2007 9:33 PM
Color me ignorant, but... Who is this Fuller tool?
Posted by: dcwp | November 13, 2007 9:34 PM
Man, I love this program.
Posted by: Jari | November 13, 2007 9:34 PM
The transitional fossil of creationism.. that was classic
Posted by: Landslug | November 13, 2007 9:34 PM
I really like how this show is hitting the major intelligent design's claims and the prosecutions rebuttals.
But I just hate it how the film makers keep holding up theistic science supporters who say that they're not Atheists like being an Atheist is akin to being a child eater. Argg!!
Posted by: the izz | November 13, 2007 9:38 PM
Behe is the "thick end of the wedge" well he's the thick end of something alright.
Posted by: tai haku | November 13, 2007 9:38 PM
Perjury to promote "traditional morals." I LURVE it!
Posted by: dcwp | November 13, 2007 9:41 PM
I love the gazelle - lion analogy - except sometimes you kind of want to root for the gazelle because they're cute.
NO ONE wants to root for Bonsell and Buckingham.
And they are not cute in HDTV.
Posted by: Ms. S | November 13, 2007 9:41 PM
And Bonsell - 'I wouldn't a lied if'n I'd knowed I'd get caught.' ROTFLMAO
Posted by: dcwp | November 13, 2007 9:44 PM
"garbage in, garbage out".. Judge Jones is a hero!
Posted by: Landslug | November 13, 2007 9:49 PM
Show's almost over, but I was... um... "satisfied" about 3 minutes into it. Does that make me any less of a man?
Posted by: Charles Soto | November 13, 2007 9:49 PM
The poor zealots still don't like the loss...
Posted by: Moses | November 13, 2007 9:50 PM
The school board guy calling the judge a jackass... way to be a christian.
Posted by: Amanda | November 13, 2007 9:51 PM
[creationist whining]
Hey, does anyone hear violins? I think I here violins... but they're really, really tiny...
Posted by: Chris Berez | November 13, 2007 9:53 PM
Buckingham and Bonsell came off like absolute buffoons - and I'm pretty sure they can't blame PBS for editing it to look that way. I'm pretty sure they're just buffoons naturally.
Posted by: Ms. S | November 13, 2007 9:53 PM
Pity that it's NOVA on PBS and thus preaching to the choir a bit. Need to get it over onto some of the Christian networks so that they could maybe learn something.
Posted by: Kurt | November 13, 2007 9:56 PM
Next time on Nova: Master of the Killer Ants.
Hmmm. I'm sure someone can come up with some clever segue between Judgment Day and Killer Ants... I'm too tired. This is more commenting than I've ever done. Time to go back to lurking. :)
Posted by: Ms. S | November 13, 2007 9:56 PM
Well that covered way more of the theory of evolution than I ever received in high school. Funny, I don't feel unbalanced.
Posted by: Ex-drone | November 13, 2007 9:58 PM
It just ended on my tube and I, ginning, was informed that I can buy a recording of the show for twenny bux. Twenny bux! Think I'll pop for it. As an investment in my children's and my grand children's futures.
Good show.
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | November 13, 2007 10:00 PM
I'll give my historical geology classes the statement that the Dover School board wanted read to Dover biology classes, and we'll discuss it, if the cdesign proponentsists will agree to show "Judgement Day" in churches.
Posted by: N.Wells | November 13, 2007 10:02 PM
What a bunch of arrogant, smarmy bastards...I had to stop myself changing the channel on several occasions.
But I think Ms. S is right, they're just buffoons naturally and this comes across SO well on camera.
Buckingham, Bonsell, Behe - what is it about B surnames?
Maybe, over several generations, most creationists/IDiots will have last names that start with B.
Oh, wait a minute...
Posted by: Bruce Almighty | November 13, 2007 10:02 PM
"cdesign proponentsists"
I love this slogan!
Posted by: firemancarl | November 13, 2007 10:05 PM
I am sure, to quote Abbie "ERV" Smith , when Behe saw this he said "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEE it's not fair!"
Posted by: firemancarl | November 13, 2007 10:07 PM
For all I've read on it, somehow I always missed the transitional fossil "cdesign proponentsists".
I'm too close to it to determine if it would have been a good overview for those not already in the know, but it definitely was well-produced.
Posted by: Carlie | November 13, 2007 10:08 PM
How about Buckingham, a liar under oath, calling Judge Jones a jackass. If you told me central casting was going to find a perfect stereotype for a bohunk fundamentalist moron, they could not have come up with a better example than this fat, smarmy ignoramus.
Posted by: John Farrell | November 13, 2007 10:09 PM